Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Aubrey Fornwalt. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Aubrey, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

My mission is to create an alternative to dumping food scraps and wasted food into the landfill. In my region of Pennsylvania, we are in a compost desert, but just over the mountain is a huge landfill that serves several counties. That landfill disposes of 25,000 tons of food annually. It has also recently secured 1000 acres of land for expansion. In the year 2024, it astounds me that continuing to throw food in a giant, toxic layer cake of a landfill is considered the best we can do. Pennsylvania has a robust agriculture industry — we should focus on creating a circle of organics management to feed the crops, the soil, and ultimately our future selves.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

As a child, the woods and stream were my playground. I caught crayfish. I climbed trees. I made forts amongst the ferns. And then I got older — and maybe a little too cool — and decided that I would go to college for graphic design. I worked for two large newspapers, one being Newsday on Long Island. That’s where I decided that I was significantly unhappy, and so seemed everyone around me. I can’t explain where the epiphany came from, but I was driving home from a solo vacation and the thought “I want to compost” struck me. I was already trying to clandestinely compost in my little patio landscaping at my Long Island apartment (not that that gives me credibility to start a compost business). I wanted to focus on capturing the potential of wasted food. After years of seeing so much wasted resource potential, it was frustrating to see no alternatives offered. But the idea of doing something to make the world physically better excited me. I quit my well-paying job to move back into my childhood bedroom at my parents’ house in Pennsylvania — the Millennial Dream — and did the research and work to start a composting business. This concept was modified after seeing the amount of space and heavy equipment necessary for a traditional compost system. That’s when I discovered black soldier fly larvae, which are used in permaculture farms to keep a self-sustaining ecosystem. In 2017, I bought some larvae on ebay and never looked back.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Choosing to pursue what is basically insect agriculture rather than compost was a self-taught experience. There were few videos, a couple scientific studies when I started. It was a radical change from my cubical job, and I loved it. I loved all of the problem-solving. I loved seeing the food material vanish and the larvae grow. It has come with a lot of stories which I never in a million years thought possible. An early lesson was finding out that larvae can climb walls and even move along ceilings if given enough traction in the form of humidity. I distinctly remember in the early days my mom and I walking into the larvae room to discover hundreds of the larvae scaling the walls and inching along the ceiling. I was horrified. My mom just grabbed a broom and dust pan and set to work. This was my life now. Time to start writing down these lessons.

I still use my graphic design skills. I created my own logo. I regularly design my own informational material, and I am happy to say I am my favorite client of all time.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Based on the lack of information and video content available for black soldier fly farming, I was encouraged to make videos on YouTube. I still haven’t figured out what the perfect content formula is, but I’ve grown a following. I’ve been contacted by people all over the world, which is totally wild and amazing. Some people have questions. Some people just want to reach out and be encouraging. I try to tell a story with each video. There’s always a reason for the methods within my fly farming processes and I try to share that.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.fullcirclebioconversion.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fullcirclebio/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fullcirclebioconversion/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@fullcirclebio

Image Credits
Process photos are done by Jenna Evelhair.